Air St. Luke's - Non-injury incident

DATE
08/11/2005 1238 PM MDT
PROGRAM
Air St. Luke's
VENDOR
Idaho Helicopters, Inc.
ADDRESS
190 E Bannock Street
Boise, ID 83712
WEATHER
Clear. Not a factor
AIRCRAFT_TYPE
Bell 430
TAIL#
N430SL
TEAM
Pilot, Flight Nurse, Flight Paramedic. No injuries reported. Patient
on board.
DESCRIPTION
Crew was picking up two patients from a car/semi collision on Hwy 55
near Gardenia, Idaho. The helicopter had landed some distance from
the highway. So the ambulance was used to transport the two patients
from the accident site to the helicopter. The first patient transport
was uneventful, although the pilot warned the ambulance driver about
being too close to the helicopter. When the ambulance returned with
the second patient, the ambulance driver drove directly into one of
the four main rotor blades. The blade corner pierced the box of the
ambulance. The one rotor blade was replaced and the aircraft
relocated to Boise. Both patients were transported to Boise via
ambulance.
SOURCE
Michael McGrane, Program Director
VIA
David Kearns, CONCERN Coordinator
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The CONCERN network shares verified information to alert medical
transport programs when an accident / incident has occurred.
Please share the above information with your program staff. If
you have further questions, please contact the CONCERN Coordinator,
David Kearns at 800 525 3712 or email: coordinator@concern-network.org.